Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy is expected to see out his coaching career in Victoria. Picture: Klein Michael Source: The Daily Telegraph
CRAIG Bellamy will end months of speculation about his coaching future by announcing today he will stay at the helm of Melbourne Storm.
Bellamy, who has been considering a lucrative offer from St George Illawarra to move to Wollongong next year, is said to have signed a deal that will keep him in the Victorian capital for the rest of his career.
But before he heads to London for Storm's World Club Challenge match against Leeds on February 22, Melbourne will make the news public today, The Australian understands.
Bellamy, who led Storm to four consecutive grand finals before winning the club's first official premiership by beating Canterbury last year, was also being courted by the Warriors.
They made an attractive offer last October but wanted Bellamy to jump ship straight away for this season. Bellamy had stridently vowed to see out his current Storm deal, which ends at the end of the year.
He arrived in Melbourne in 2003 after five years as assistant to Wayne Bennett at the Broncos.
In his 10 years at Storm he has moulded the talents of players such as Israel Folau, Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith into sterling representative careers.
The news he is staying will be music to the ears of club administrators as it's understood one of his high-profile players has a get-out clause embedded in his deal allowing him to look elsewhere if Bellamy leaves AAMI Park.
The new deal for Bellamy, 54, is said to be four years with an option for a further two.
It means the former Dally M coach of the year will probably see out his NRL coaching days in Melbourne.
The team's big guns will all be on deck for their World Club Challenge, with star trio Slater, Smith and Cronk overcoming injury fears to be named in a 21-man squad.
Smith is fine to tour despite breaking his nose in the NRL All Stars game in Brisbane on Saturday night, a match Slater and Cronk skipped citing injuries.
Slater, who pulled out of the All Stars game with ankle and shoulder complaints, proved his fitness in the Storm's 40-8 trial defeat to Canberra on Friday while Cronk has sufficiently recovered from a back injury to travel to England today.
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